


Powdered Hope

by satan_copilots_my_tardis



Series: Signal Flares [4]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: F/F, M/M, Magic, Older!Dipper, Older!Mabel, Protective!Bill, Protective!Mabel, Protective!Stan, demons cuddling, pines in distress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-03-20 09:24:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3645159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/satan_copilots_my_tardis/pseuds/satan_copilots_my_tardis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Oh good you’re still alive!” The demon says chipperly and Dipper groans. “And the distress signals work.”<br/>“You didn’t know if they worked!?”<br/>“Well I assumed they would, but I couldn’t be sure. I’ve never been summoned without a circle before. ”  </p><p>The flares come in handy more times than Dipper likes to say, but this time they’re more valuable than the air being forced out of his lungs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Powdered Hope

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so a lot of stuff happening in this section, way more than on the tin including awkward conversations between siblings, panic attacks, and kind of horrible assumptions made by the twins peers and their parents. I took the nicknames Hellhoney and Nec-Romancer from this tumblr post http://tumblr.evilsupply.co/post/78094397558/gender-neutral-terms-of-sinister-endearment and all of the Latin was once again taken from the internet so it's not very good and the translations will be at the end.

“Close your eyes, Pine Tree.” Dipper immediately tenses as Bill manifests in front of him. The teenager had been sitting on his bed paging through the second journal for the thousandth time to stave off boredom.

“Why?” He wants to say no outright, but he notices just how jovial of a mood the triangular creature seems to be in and stops himself. Bill in a good mood is almost as terrifying as Bill in a bad mood. His manic energy possibly even more destructive than his anger.

“Just do it and hold out your hands, Dipping Sauce.” Reluctantly he sets his book down on bed and warily extends his hands out in front of him.

“Please tell me this isn’t more deer teeth.”

“Not this time kid.” Dipper sighs, though he’s not sure if he’s relieved of more terrified of what is about to be placed in his hands. He holds out his hands and feels Bill press against his cheek in a mockery of a kiss before cool round disks are placed in his hands. He opens his eyes and looks at the coins. They’re not normal change, rather thin amber disks with Bill’s summoning circle engraved on the front.

“What are these?”

“Well you humans have signal flares, but I thought I should give you a few special ones considering all the trouble you’ve gotten into recently.” Dipper’s stomach turns as his limbs tingle with the remembered agony from his and Mabel’s most recent encounter with the Gnomes. It’s been three weeks since then but his wounds have only just finished healing, Bill taking great time and care in making sure that not a single physical mark is left on his body. “You just have to break them and I’ll come, Pine Tree.”

“Okay thanks, Bill.” Dipper sets the handful of coins on his nightstand and after a moment Bill worms his way to press against his chest, sitting there and watching as Dipper resumes his reading. “You knew the Author personally, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

“What was he like?”

“You remind me of him sometimes.” Dipper doesn’t press any further, knowing that eventually the demon will tell him something vague about destroying the universe if he answers any more questions, and enjoys spending the afternoon reading with his demon in his arms.

* * *

 

“Hey kid,” Stan sticks his head into the gift shop and both Mabel and Dipper look up. “Dipper,” he clarifies and Mabel turns to stick her tongue out at her brother. “I’ve got an entire bus load of tourists coming in today so why don’t you get lost.”

“What? Grunkle Stan that doesn’t make any sense. Don’t you want me to work the register?”

“No, cause if you’re here then when that nacho turns up he’ll hang around and scare people out of spending their money.” Dipper can’t even argue that point. “And since he seems to follow you wherever you go I want you to get lost. Wendy’s coming in fifteen so she’ll take over for you.” Stan turns and heads back into the house.

“Aw that’s not fair!” Mabel whines as she pauses in restocking the unnerving Stan bobbleheads. “Your boyfriend misbehaves so you get the day off.” She flicks one of the Stan figures so he nods along with her statement. “That just seems wrong.”

“Well you can’t fault his logic.” Dipper pauses in grabbing his backpack. “Though cool it on the boyfriend thing.”

“What do you prefer Hellhoney? Oooh what about Nec-romancer?”

“It’s not the term, though I will never call him my Hellhoney-seriously where do you come up with this stuff?- I just haven’t told Grunkle Stan that we’re dating yet. Or ever. I think he’d have a stroke.”

“You’ll have to tell him sooner or later, Dipper. Or else it’ll be like one of those awful sitcoms that you hate where he finds out from someone else and then it spirals out of control into a huge deal that could potentially ruin your entire relationship with him.” Mabel waves her arms frantically to emphasize her point.

“You’re right.” He admits begrudgingly before heading off to find their Grunkle. Stan is straightening his collar as he awaits the bus of tourists which Dipper can see pulling up the long drive. “Hey Stan, I have something I want to tell you before I head out.”

“What is it, kid?”

“I’m kind of dating Bill, have a nice day, bye.” He bolts for the door before Stan can respond and is already sprinting through the trees when he hears,

“DIPPER!” As his Grunkle processes the information. He doesn’t think Stan will abandon the potential fortune that he stands to make today so he slows as he reaches the Author’s hideout. In the several years he’s been coming out here he’s become just as adept as Wendy in scaling the mental tree and pulling the branch lever so it only takes him a moment to get the stairs to reveal themselves. He heads down and bypasses the traps and dangers of the lab. He and Bill have been cleaning up down here for the past couple of years and at this point just about everything has been restored. Dipper falls into the chair before the monitors and checks on the cryo tubes. The shapeshifter’s levels have remained the same and he sighs in relief. The monster’s prediction of his last form as a child hadn’t come true but seeing the creature still makes him uneasy.

Dipper pulls out the map of Gravity Falls that he keeps in his backpack and one of his own journals. Supernatural activity has been all over the board lately and he needs to finish cataloging the changes. After the incident with the Gnomes, which he shudders to think about, the monsters of the forest went briefly quiet, but now they’re all breaching the forest and heading into town. It’s been causing problems all over the city as people try to maintain their ignorance while monsters rampage. If they can’t figure out the pattern soon the town is likely to tear itself apart.

He works in peace for what he wants to say is near four hours and the pattern is becoming painfully obvious. All of the creatures are working their way out of the woods from one central point and his stomach sinks. The Gnome city. It’s like the monsters are all running from them. He knows that he’ll have to investigate sooner rather than later but the idea of going back to that place makes him shake. A few months ago he would have laughed if someone told him he’d be afraid of Gnomes, but he knows now that they’re capable of and why the Author thought they were dangerous. He doesn’t want to go back. Dipper curls in on himself and tries to think. He supposes he could ask Bill to check it out for him, but he doesn’t trust the demon to tell him the whole truth of whatever he finds. He doesn’t want to go back alone but he refuses to take Mabel anywhere near them again and if he takes Stan he’ll have to argue with him about Bill and the supernatural. Unfortunately Soos and Wendy can’t defend themselves effectively against that many enemies at once so they’re out. Dipper doesn’t even consider Candy and Grenda as the two have been able to stay almost entirely out of the supernatural for the past six years and he’d rather not be the one to break that chain. Old man McGucket is always willing to help out but he thinks the elderly man’s time is better spent trying to decrypt the files on the Author’s repaired laptop. He puts his head on the table and sighs deeply. He’ll just have to figure something out.

“DIPPER DIPPER I’M CALLING YOU ANSWER YOUR PHONE.” Mabel’s personalized ringtone blares out of his cell and he reaches over to answer without looking up.

“Hey Mabel what’s--”

“DIPPER!” He jerks the phone from his ear. “What are you doing get away from there!”

“Mabel?! Mabel, what’s going on?”

“Gremloblins! Everywhere! They’re on a rampage Dipper! Comminuet autem,”

“Mabel no! Don’t use that spell Bill said it was too dangerous!” Dipper shoots to his feet and runs towards the door.

“Inimicus meus!” The commotion on the other end of the line goes disturbingly silent for a moment and Dipper’s heart leaps up into his throat. Then the world shakes and he is thrown from his feet. Metal screeches and warps as he tries to get to his feet again.

“Mabel?!” He shouts, trying to find the phone that he’d let go of when he’d fallen.

“Dip-!” There’s a loud crash and he barely has the chance to shout,

“Cingit protegit!” Then everything goes black.

* * *

 

His head hurts. That’s the first thing he notices when he begins to come to. Dipper’s not really surprised as he suspects the only way he would have been rendered unconscious is being hit in the head. However, as he looks around with blurry vision he realizes that it could have been much worse. There’s a buildup of metal and rock around him, so thoroughly broken that he can’t even tell what most of it used to be, that should have crushed him. The thin layer of protection, hovering about two inches above his skin, is the only thing that kept him intact and even then he can still feel the weight bearing down on him. Dipper cringes as he tries to keep a firm hold on the borrowed power keeping him alive. The skin on his hands begins to tingle and he knows that he doesn’t have long before his energy is sapped. Mabel’s always been better at this. He takes a deep breath and pushes against the barrier slowly,

“Excresco.” The faint white of the spell vibrates the air a moment before forcing itself outward, shifting the rubble away with a symphony of small clatters. He needs to work quickly. “Excresco.” Dipper says again and the barrier shifts another two inches away. He shoves his hand into his pocket and his stomach sinks when all he feels is empty lining. Frantically he reaches into the other and gives a sigh of relief when his fingers come in contact with the cool coin. He pulls out the amber piece and looks at it for a second, silently praying that it works, before grasping it firmly and snapping it clean down the center. The small space is filled with a brilliant golden light before it is sucked into a small swirling black and white vortex. A loud pop fills the space and then Dipper is staring at Bill.

“Oh good you’re still alive!” The demon says chipperly and Dipper groans. “And the distress signals work.”

“You didn’t know if they worked!?”

“Well I assumed they would, but I couldn’t be sure. I’ve never been summoned without a circle before. ”

“Ugh, okay. Yeah, they worked. Get me out of here.”

“Sure thing, Pine Tree.” Bill snaps his fingers and Dipper’s world stretches sideways. His breath gets caught in his chest and a headache grows behind his eyes. If he thought he still had functioning limbs he would try and peel himself out of his skin because everything is wrong and it hurts. It hurts too much. He feels every thick cell membrane, every drop of too hot blood, and every spasming beat of his meaty heart. It’s all dying and living and regenerating and useless. It’s not him. It’s all just meat. He needs to get away from it he needs to take it off he needs it to go away. It hurts. It hurts.

“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts.”

“Dipper? What’s wrong? Dipper?”

“What did you do to him, Cipher?!” Dipper becomes aware of himself too quickly, settles back into the meaty prison and is suddenly confronted with the Shack. He’s sitting on the floor he realizes, knees tucked to his chest, face pressed to his knees, hands clutching his head, and rocking back and forth. He lowers his hands and takes a long look at them. They are his hands. This body is his. The pain fades to memory as he rejoins his body in its entirety.

“Dipper?” He can feel Mabel’s warm hand on his shoulder as she kneels next to him. He smells charred wood, blood, and sweat of a recent battle. There is wind running through the wind chime outside and Grunkle Stan is still interrogating Bill while Soos and Wendy are asking him if he needs to go to the hospital.

“I’m okay now.” His voice is quiet at first so he clears his throat and tries again. “Guys, I’m okay now.” This time Stan actually looks at him and Dipper can see the worry creasing his forehead.

“What the hell did he do to you kid?”

“Nothing, I mean, I don’t think it was him.” He defends Bill whose floated closer to him, like he too wants to check Dipper over for injuries but knows that any approach will be taken as a sign of hostility by the oldest Pines. “He took me out of the cave-in.”

“Cave-in? What cave-in?” Mabel asks.

“I was in the Author’s base and then you called.”

“It was the spell, oh no. This is all my fault you told me that I couldn’t control it and I--” Her eyes have gone large and misty so Dipper reaches out to take her hand.

“Hey, you were up against a Gremloblin, you did what you had to do and I’m not hurt.”

“Actually dude, it was more like six Gremloblins.” Dipper startles at that news.

“Six?!” He looks over his friends for injuries with a more critical eye. “Are you guys alright?”

“Yeah, dude, once Mabel blew apart one of them with that spell,” Wendy chimes in, “Which was equal parts disgusting and awesome, they ran back into the forest.”

“Can we refocus?” Stan snaps. “What happened to you?” Dipper swallows.

“I’m not sure, when Bill transported us it was weird. It was like my skin wasn’t a part of me it was like this trash prison,” he searches for words. “Like it was stifling and I couldn’t get away from it and it just hurt. I don’t know. I don’t think I’m making much sense. But I feel fine now I don’t even really know why I thought I was in so much pain before.” Stan stares at him for a long time to make sure his great nephew is telling the truth before addressing the rest of the group.

“Go start cleaning up the yard. We’ll be out in a minute.” Mabel and Bill visibly hesitate and he scowls at them. “Go. Now.” His sister squeezes his hand once before climbing to her feet and following Soos and Wendy out the door. Bill stays where he is. Dipper climbs to his feet and gently touches the demons back.

“Bill go, we’ve got a lot to talk about.” His hand tingles with pain and he gives his boyfriend a small nudge towards the door.

“Alright, Pine Tree, but we need to talk too.” Bill floats out the door and it shuts behind him. There’s a brief silence before Stan sighs and begins to speak.

“I knew that you weren’t able to keep your promise about staying away from this stuff, but Dipper this is about a thousand times worse than I thought it was.” The teenager wishes the world would just swallow him. He’d rather be slowly crushed under the rubble of the care-in than have this conversation. “What do you think you’re doing with him? You know he can’t be trusted, you know that, don’t you?”

“I know.” He says in a small voice. “And I don’t trust him, not fully.”

“Then what exactly is going on. Come on, kid, what have you been hiding?”

“Look Stan, Bill’s just hanging out. Yeah I’m sure he’s up to stuff but he’s not hurting anyone that I’m aware of. He started giving me, well he calls them ‘courting gifts’, the hearts and animal parts a couple of years ago but we just got together in June and I don’t really know what’s going to happen from this point.” He shoves his hands into his pockets. “I wasn’t really trying to hide it from you, I just knew that you wouldn’t approve and I wanted to wait a little longer. Bill gets bored pretty easily. I don’t know if this thing is going to last.” Stan watches him for a few silent minutes.

“Kid I’m going to tell you something, and I’m not going to answer any questions about it so don’t even try asking, understand?” Dipper nods with a sinking feeling in his gut. “I knew the Author, I was around when he was writing the journals and I was just as aware of the supernatural then as I am now. I saw him become friends with Bill, hell the demon helped him fill half of the journals, and then I watched him turn on the Author.” Stan nearly growls. “He betrayed his trust and now he’s gone. I don’t want to watch the same thing happen to you, kid.” Stan sighs and puts a hand on his great nephew’s shoulder while Dipper stands stock still and flabbergasted. “I’m not going to forbid you from seeing him or ward the Shack against him because I know you’re just as stubborn as I am and you’ll find a way to see him anyway. But you need to remember that he’s a demon, and you’re right he gets bored fast, and when things like him get bored they find breaking things to be the quickest source of entertainment. Understand?”

“You knew-?”

“I’m not talking about that anymore.” Stan’s tone is hard and dry. “Understand?”

“Yeah, I understand Grunkle Stan.”

“Good, now let's go help them clean up the yard.”

* * *

 

Dipper’s too distracted with the new information to notice how long it takes for the group to erase the damage caused by the Gremloblins but he does notice that the sun is setting when him and Mabel are finally able to flop down in their beds.

“Everything hurts.” His sister groans from her bed. She’d discarded her sweater when they’d come inside and changed into a clean tank top and a pair of pajama pants with tiny llamas on them. He grunts in response from where he’s lying face down on his bed. The amount of broken branches they’d had to clear away and the deep cracks in the earth had taken more manual labor than either of them were used to and Dipper suspects that they’re going to feel even worse in the morning. “Dipper?”

“Yeah Mabel?”

“I’m sorry that you got hurt because of me.” She says in a small voice.

“I didn’t get hurt, and it wasn’t your fault. You did what you had to do. Who knows what would have happened if you hadn’t cast that spell.” Dipper tenses when he feels something moving along his spine.

“Well I know, obviously, but I suppose no moral could tell you.” He relaxes when he realizes that Bill’s joined them.

“Hey Bill.” Mabel greets as cheerfully as she can. “Do you want me to go downstairs?”

“Don’t you dare.” Dipper says sternly.

“No need, Shooting Star.” He wishes that he could see the dream demon but he can’t turn over without moving his partner. “I just wanted to explain what happened to Pine Tree today when I took him out of the wreckage.” Screw it. He rolls over so that he can look at Bill, the demon having sensed his intentions and taken to floating over him for a second before settling into a sitting position on the human’s chest. “I had to take you through the Mindscape when we transported, physical bodies can’t exist there, only pure energy. Your energy was still encased in those water balloons you call bodies and your energy,”

“Are you talking about his soul?” Mabel asks.

“If that’s how your tiny human minds are able to understand it.” Bill waves dismissively.

“It totally is, you only insult me as human when I’ve simplified some over-complicated demonic concept.” Mabel grins at him triumphantly. Bill snaps his fingers and all of her blankets flop over her head.

“As I was saying, you were still covered in meat so your energy wanted to escape it. If we had stayed there you would have torn yourself apart.”

“How long were we there for?”

“About half a second. But I’d say you could last three before you started in on yourself.” Bill smiles in his strange no-mouth way. “I can take you anywhere in this universe in three seconds." Dipper gives the demon a sleepy smile and gently smooths the demon’s bowtie between his thumb and forefinger.

“Anywhere?”

“You betcha, Pine Tree.” Dipper presses a soft kiss to the demon's non-existent mouth. 

“You guys are cute.” Mabel mumbles from her bed, eyes half closes with an exhausted smile on her face. “But I’m going to sleep.”

“Okay. You staying?” He asks Bill, not relinquishing his grip on the demon’s bowtie.

“Why not.”

“Wanna get the lights Mabel?”

“Veni tenebras.” The room goes dark save for the dim glow coming from Bill’s body. Dipper thinks about what Stan told him as the demon presses close and even after the day he’s had it keeps him awake until long after Mabel’s breath has evened out in the darkness.

* * *

 

After the incident with the Gremloblins Dipper notices that the creatures have started to move away from the Shack as well as the Gnome city and has the sinking feeling that there’s something more going on than he’d originally thought. So with a pocket full of Bill’s emergency flares he heads out into the forest, alone, one misty morning. The forest is usually quiet this early the nocturnal creatures settling into sleep and the daytime creatures not yet awake. Dipper moves swiftly along the paths until he’s about thirty feet from the center of the city. He walks around the perimeter a few times, keeping a critical eye out for anything unusual and moving closer with each pass. The Gnomes aren’t particularly known for setting traps but Dipper hadn’t known they were particularly adept at torture either. Better safe than sorry. About twenty feet from the center of the village he notices something on a tree. He approaches slowly, wanting to make sure that it’s not a Gnome sentry.

Dipper nearly retches when he realizes what the shape really is. The body of the Gnome is nailed to the tree, dark blood stains still lingering on the bark, while the head is lying at the base of the tree. Its badly decomposed and other animals have clearly been picking at it but Dipper still recognizes the Gnome leader. Jeff is dead. His head chopped off and body nailed to a tree. He moves a little closer, noticing the carving near the body. ‘Never Again’. Dipper’s stomach turns and he moves away from the tree, back towards the Shack. No wonder the creatures are moving out of the forest. Whatever, whoever, had done that had sent a pretty clear message about what would happen if any of the Pines or their friends were messed with. He walks back along the path with a sickness in his throat.

Bill hadn’t done that. Bill’s ‘message’ wouldn’t have been the killing of one Gnome, and it wouldn’t have been nearly as understated, Bill would have burned them all and left the village a smoldering crater. He also would have bragged about it by now. But Bill had kept strangely quiet about seeking any kind of revenge on the Gnomes, had hardly mentioned it, as if he’d known it had been taken care of. And now, Dipper thinks as he walks, the monsters are running from the Shack as well. A wave of nausea rolls through his stomach as he breaks through the tree line and is able to see the Shack. Mabel’s leaning against the railing on the porch with two mugs of coffee in her hands and a smile.

“Thought you might have gone for an early walk so I got the coffee ready.” He does his best to cover his dawning realization and takes the offered mug.

“Thanks.”

“No problem, little bro.” He knows who the creatures are running from, and now he knows why. He knows that Mabel’s been learning more destructive spells, knew that she’d used them against the Gremloblins, saw the blood under her fingernails when she’d visited him in the hospital. He just hadn’t wanted to see. Hadn’t wanted to understand. The coffee is too sweet but it forces the bile back down into his stomach. It doesn’t matter, he decides as they sit down in comfortable silence, she’s doing it all for them and he can’t fault her for that.

* * *

 

Dipper and Mabel turn eighteen and start their senior year of high school in August. They both smoke a cigarette and Dipper nearly vomits while his sister coughs until she’s as red as Wendy’s hair and they both promise not to tell anyone about the experience ever. They buy scratch off tickets instead and for once Dipper’s luckier than Mabel and wins three dollars. They don’t have a birthday party and Dipper’s glad. Even though Mabel’s able to make friends wherever she goes it’s become more obvious after last year that they don’t quite fit in with their peers.

The divide between them and the rest of the student body happens when they stop gossiping about their summer adventures. When they were thirteen after their first summer in Gravity Falls all of their peers loved to hear their ‘tall tales’. Now the speak vaguely about working at the Shack and refuse to even acknowledge their past stories. Dipper knows it seems suspicious but he’d rather just be thought of as a little weird than completely bat-shit by telling normal people about the truth of what happens in Gravity Falls. But it’s a series of events that cause the twins to be largely ignored by their classmates. It’s the day a few guys in the locker room see Dipper’s deer teeth necklace, it’s when Mabel knocks unconscious a student who jumped out at her on Halloween, it’s when they’re overheard whispering in garbled Latin. It’s the time they’re seen at an antique shop downtown with an old book purchasing a dagger, it’s the strange markings that Dipper has tattooed on his arms, and how they up and join the track team with no explanation and whisper things like ‘chased by zombies’ or ‘Gnomes’ or ‘the Hide Behind’ as encouragement before a meet. Dipper knows that a lot of students suspect them of witchcraft and they’re not wrong but he doesn’t acknowledge the rumors.

His parents used to throw parties for them, invite the entire class and half of the neighborhood, but now they look at their kids like they don’t know if they should believe the rumors or not. Dipper still plays video games like he used to before they left for Gravity Falls when they were twelve but now he spends half of his time with his nose buried in some book about the supernatural. Mabel is still the same ball of glittery energy that she was as a kid but every now and then she gets a dark determined look in her eye when someone rubs her the wrong way. They both speak of significant others back in Gravity Falls that their parents have never met and a group of friends so close that they seem to live and breath for each other when they’re together, but no friends besides each other at home. Dipper thinks they’re afraid and afraid of thinking the worst about him and Mabel. He knows that some of their classmates have whispered about their relationship about how they seem almost _too_ close. He knows those whispers reached their peer’s parents and those whispers have reached his and Mabel’s.

When they were fourteen their parents give them each ‘the talk’ and offer them separate rooms which they both immediately and firmly turned down. Now the extra room is dedicated to Mabel’s crafting while their shared bedroom is fairly overrun with Dipper’s books. He would have happily stored some of them in the spare room but their bedroom has a lock on the door and he wants to keep his parents out of this as much as they are able. Every now and then he and Mabel will be sitting together quietly working on their own things and he’ll hear one of his parents stop outside the door and listen for a few minutes before retreating. He and Mabel will share a sad look, knowing exactly what their mom and dad are afraid of and expecting to hear, before turning back to their task. Letting their family and peers think the worst of them is somehow better than telling them the truth.

“Dipper, Mabel, dinner!” Mabel hops out of bed and heads towards the door, sporting her ‘Birthday Girl’ sweater and waits for him to slide a bookmark between the pages of the Guide to Understanding the Spiritual Plane, before heading down the hall into the dining room.

“Heya, what’s for dinner?” Mabel asks cheerfully.

“We ordered pizza from that new place.” Their mother answers as she puts down a pile of napkins.

“And we got gummy koalas and ice cream cake for dessert.” Their father adds.

“Awesome!” Mabel punches the air before sliding into her usual seat. “Thanks guys.” Dipper says with small smile as he sits down next to his sister.

“So how was your first week back at school?” He lets Mabel lead the conversation. She’s always been better at it than him and he watches the interaction with a critical eye. Their mother keeps touching the ends of her hair as Mabel speaks and Dipper’s fairly certain that she hates that Mabel’s chopped off her long hair. Their mother always loved Mabel’s long hair as much as is sister had and been happy when Mabel constantly stated she wouldn’t cut it off even under the threat of death. It’s almost laughable how that kind of idealism just sort of rots in Gravity Falls. He knows it’s especially gnawing at their parents because, to his knowledge, neither of them have asked about it. They want to know why she cut it but they’re too afraid of the answer to ask. Dipper notes the way their parents are holding hands on the table and he thinks that something feels off.

Normally one or both of their parents are at work when it comes time to eat so he and Mabel will make something and whoever's home will eat together. It’s unusual for all four of them to be home and originally Dipper thought that his parents had taken off so that they could all spend the night together since it was his and Mabel’s birthday but he’s not sure. Now he notes how his father squeezes his mother’s hand, the same reassuring way that he and Mabel do when things are hard and realizes what’s about to happen. He picks up his cup and murmurs while pretending to take a sip.

“Pausa.” The spell is significantly more powerful than anything he’s ever tried before and the skin on his hands begins to turn red immediately. Their parents are trapped in a split second of time and Dipper doubts that he can maintain it for long. “Mabel, they’re about to interrogate us.” He tells her quickly and Mabel’s smile falls.

“I thought so.What do we tell them?”

“Whatever will help them feel better.”

“Nothing supernatural,” she says like it’s obvious and it is. “Now let the spell go before you burn yourself.”

“Initium.” Dipper puts down his cup as his parents bink back into the conversation as if they’d never left.

“Mabel, sweetheart,” Dipper immediately reaches over and takes hold of his sister’s hand. She’s gone too still and he can hear her breathing falter.

“It’s okay.” He reassures her while his parents look at them too stunned to speak. “Take a few deep breaths.” Dipper instructs and waits for her to listen. “There, just like that.” He knows they’ve both been traumatized and he knows exactly what sets off Mabel’s panic. She can’t be called sweetheart anymore. Every time someone does all she can think of is Jeff and what happened with the Gnomes.

“What’s wrong?” Their dad asks as he moves to stand.

“I’m okay.” Mabel says with a weak smile. “You just startled me.” She reaches up to grab her hair, to bring it to her mouth and chew it nervously, only to have her fingertips move through air. It’s another sobering reminder of what had happened. “It’s just we had some problems with a creep in Gravity Falls this summer. He used to call me ‘sweetheart’ when he harassed me.” She says in a small voice.

“Oh honey, why didn’t you tell us sooner, are you okay?”

“I swear I’ll drive down there myself and give that boy a piece of my mind!”

“No need.” Dipper jumps in too quickly. “Grunkle Stan ran him out of town. He’s not going to bother anyone again.” Mabel is still too tense beside him. “Hey do you want some more soda?” She nods and he picks up her cup and brings it to the kitchen, listening intently to see if his parents try and start any further conversation. There’s a guilty feeling of gratitude that her near panic attack seems to frighten their parents out of any further interrogation that night and they’re able to pretend that everything is sunshine and gummy koalas instead of deer intestine flower crowns and torture by Gnomes.

* * *

 

Dipper does have a panic attack that September. It hits him during the passing period as he pulls his books out of his locker. He’s got a free period while Mabel’s in painting and plans to spend it secreted away in the library in the hopes that he’ll be able to check his e-mail to see if McGucket has gotten anywhere with the laptop. Last week he’d been running a new piece of software to try and get past the computer’s firewall and had expected some kind of result by this morning. He doesn’t have high hopes but he’s eager to have news one way or the other.

Dipper knows some panic attacks come without a clear trigger but that only makes identifying what’s wrong with him harder. The bell rings and he realizes his hands are starting to shake. The world takes a sharp dip and sudden turn and then everything is spinning as his breath comes in short gasps. He struggles to stay on his feet, leaning against the wall of lockers and clutching at his too-tight chest as he tries to force his lungs to inflate. He can’t-. He can’t do this alone. He can’t. Where’s Mabel? He needs her. He needs-. Dipper tries to walk towards the art room but he only gets a few meters before he’s slowing to a stop. His legs are trembling as badly as his hands and his bangs are becoming matted to his forehead with sweat. He spots the bathroom door and stumbles inside. The small room is blessedly empty and his breathing is too loud in the quiet. His eyes prick with tears as he grips the sink too tightly. One hand reaches into his pocket and he pulls out the coin. It slips from his fingers and into the sink and he scrambles to pick it up. He can’t get a good enough grip on it to break the coin in half and he nearly sobs. He need someone. He needs something. He can’t do this on his own. In a last ditch effort he smashes the coin against the counter and watches it shatter into a fine gold dust.

He nearly screams when the lights overhead start to pop, crackling with electricity before going dark. It’s too loud. Someone’s going to hear it. Someone’s going to find him. He can’t let anyone find him. Dipper stumbles over to the door and locks it before pressing his back to it and sliding down onto his butt. He watches as the mirror turns black and sucks the last remaining light from out of the room before Bill appears, familiar and blinding. Dipper’s too far gone to even feel relief.

“Calling me at school, Pine Tree? Now there’s something I wasn’t expecting.” He doesn’t reply to the demon, just curls further in on himself. He’s getting lightheaded but he can’t control his breathing. “Pine Tree?” Bill floats over to him. “Pine Tree, you need to slow your breathing. I mean I know you humans love your oxygen but breathing like that isn’t really necessary.” Dipper tries to listen. “Come on, Pine Tree, take a slow breath. Come on, you’re always going on about how being a human’s not so bad, prove it. Slow down. Take a breath.” He takes in one long shuddering breath. “That was pretty good but you’re still the inferior being. Again.”

“You’re,” He breathes, “such,” another breath, “an ass.” His chest still hurts and his hands are still shaking but somehow it isn’t as bad as it was before.

“Keep breathing, Pine Tree.” Bill’s wormed his way into Dipper’s lap, looking up at the teenager. Seeing the demon so close is strangely reassuring and Dipper breaths as he instructs. “In, out, in, out.” They keep this up for five minutes until the trembling stops and the world isn’t spinning. Dipper feels exhausted and stays slumped against the door. “You better now, Dipping Sauce?”

“Yeah.” His voice is hoarse. “Thanks.”

“I told you, I’ll always come.” Dipper presses his lips to the demon’s forehead and they stay together until the bell rings.

* * *

 

The rest of the year goes by in a flash of senioritis and research and before Dipper realizes it it’s May and he and Mabel are sitting in their bedroom customizing their graduation caps. They’re surrounded by moving boxes but without their belongings in their closets or on the shelves the room feels too empty. His sister is humming softly as they work with a small smile on her face. Mabel’s bedazzled the entire base while applying a liberal amount of glitter across the top in the image of the shooting star that she’s worn since childhood. He’s fairly certain that she’s also inscribed ‘shoot for the stars’ underneath the image. His cap is a much more simplistic design consisting of a large question mark with the dot being a small pine tree done in some borrowed felt.

“Are you excited?” She asks him after a while of working in silence.

“Yeah, but I keep thinking about how I’m probably going to trip on my way across stage.” He admits.

“No way bro bro, you’re gonna be fine.”

“I hope so.” He scowls at the glue gun. He lacks Mabel’s finesse with the tool and keeps getting thin spider-web strings of glue hanging off of the edge of his cap. “Is it weird I’m more excited about moving out than graduating?”

“Nah, I’m super excited Grunkle Stan invited us to stay with him while we go to GFCC.” She pauses in her work and looks up at him before adding in a small voice. “I would stay there forever if I had the choice.”

“Me too.”

“Dipper?”

“Yeah?”

“I want to tell you something, but you have to promise not to get all judgemental.” He frowns. What could possibly be so bad that she’d need him to reassure her before she’s even spoken.

“I promise.”

“I don’t really want to go to college.” She says quietly.

“Okay?”

“You’re not upset?”

“Why would I be? Not everyone wants to go and a lot of people don’t, it’s kind of a personal choice Mabel, and it’s okay if you decide you don’t want to go.” He shrugs. Of course he would have liked her to go with him to school, but it’s her choice and he’s not going to push her. “But what are you going to do instead?”

“Well I’ve been talking to Grunkle Stan about it a lot recently and he said when he retires, or you know, if he gets killed by a zombie or something, that the Shack’s going to us.” Dipper almost burns himself with the glue gun.

“What? Really?” His chest swells with gratitude and excitement.

“Yeah, he said that he wouldn’t think of doing anything else with it considering he knows how much it means to us.”

“Remind me to give him the biggest sappiest hug tomorrow after the ceremony. So are you going to be working at the Shack full time then?”

“Yeah, now that Wendy’s working with her dad Stan needs a bit more help anyway.”

“Cool.” Dipper finishes up his cap and unplugs the glue gun. “Is Pacifica coming up with them tomorrow?”

“Yeah, the Gravity Falls graduation isn’t until next week so we can watch all of our friends get their diplomas too.”

“That’s great, I’m sure it’ll be weird.” He flops back onto his bed and watches Mabel work. “Has anyone heard from Bill?” She looks over at him with a sad smile.

“Stan says no ones seen him for a couple of days.”

“Oh…” He frowns at the carpet.

“Why don’t you summon him, I’m sure he’d be happy to come and watch us petty humans dance for a slip of paper.”

“I’ve already packed up all the supplies and besides there’s no way I would get away with it considering how often Mom and Dad are coming in to tell us how quickly we grew up and how much they’re going to miss us while we’re at college.”

“True. Do you have any of the coins left?” Dipper snorts.

“Left? I’ve only used like two, and he gave me about twenty before we left.” He reaches over to his backpack, the one that he keeps with him in Gravity Falls rather than the one he used at school, and sticks his hand into one of the pockets and pulls out a fistful of the amber coins. “See?”

“Well why don’t you just use one of those?”

“They’re really supposed to be for emergency only.” He mutters before returning them to the pouch.

“Well I think missing your boyfriend qualifies.” Mabel says with a shrug. They go quiet for a few long minutes. “Hey Dipper?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I ask you a _super_ personal question?” He frowns at her.

“Uh, well, okay, sure. What is it?” Dipper watches with a sinking feeling in his gut as Mabel’s cheeks turn a shade rosier than normal.

“Well I was just wondering… um. Have you and… well have you and Bill had sex?” She cringes on the last word as if she can’t believe she’s gone through asking him in the first place. He can hardly believe she’d asked that and feels his own face flame red.

“Uh well, um, why do you wanna know?”

“Well I just, I mean I told you about when Pacifica and I, you know, for the first time. I was just kinda wondering if that was, you know, a thing you guys even did. I’ve never seen you two being really _amorous_ you know? Being he’s just kind of a floating triangle.”

“I’m not getting into logistics.” He says as sternly as he can while approximately the color of a tomato. “But yeah, we have a regular sex life. Not _regular_ regular, you know, since he is a floating triangle, but we’ve worked it out.” He wishes that he could throw himself out the window but he has a sneaking suspicion their window isn’t high enough to do any serious damage unless he dove head first.

“Oh.” Another bout of awkward silence fills the air. “Well I still think you should call him. You know he’d come if he knew how important this was to you.” Dipper rolls onto his back and frowns at the ceiling.

“If he’s not here when the other’s show up I’ll consider it.”

* * *

 

Each student had been allowed five invitations to the ceremony for free and between the two of them they were able to invite everyone who they cared about. Pacifica showed up first, at six in the morning, so that she could have the privilege of waking up Mabel. Stan, Soos, Wendy, and McGucket had shown up next at seven and all three of the men were surprisingly well-dressed and put together. McGucket even managed to keep most of his hysteria and insanity low-key enough to slide under their parent’s radar. While Candy and Grenda appeared about half an hour later and were delighted to help Mabel do her hair and makeup for the ceremony. Dipper kicked himself out of the room when the girls started debating between a ‘fresh face’ and a ‘full face’ worried they would ask for his opinion. He wanders into the living room and finds his parents talking to his friends. Stan is lingering on the edge of the conversation so Dipper has no trouble with catching the old man’s attention and getting him to follow him into the kitchen.

“Hey kid, you ready?”

“Just about, I told Mabel she could pick my tie.” They’re supposed to be at the school by ten so the proctors don’t rip their hair out of their heads. “She told me what you said about that Shack and I just wanted to say thanks, it really means a lot to us.” He hugs the old man tightly for a moment and Stan pats his back sincerely.

“Like I told her, there’s nothing else I’d even think of doing with that old place. But don’t get ahead of yourself, kid, I’m not ready to retire just yet.” They both share a laugh before Dipper starts to fiddle with the cuff of his sleeve.

“So have you heard anything from Bill?” He almost doesn’t want to ask since he knows how much the demon rubs Stan the wrong way but he can’t help it.

“Sorry kiddo, I haven’t seen him in about a week. And neither has anyone else.”

“Okay, thanks for letting me know.”

“Dipper, Stan,” His father pokes his head into the kitchen. “Finish getting ready Dipper we’re all going out for breakfast before we head to the school.”

“Okay, let me go get my tie and jacket.”

“Tell your sister to hurry up we’ve got to leave soon if we don’t want to be late.”

“Right.” Dipper enters the room at his own peril only to find Mabel alone.

Her hair has been straightened and hangs just below her chin in the front and to the top of her neck at the back. She’s wearing a thin lavender headband that matches her dress and shoes. Her cap and gown are sitting on the bed next to her as she slips on her heels and Dipper notes that inspite of all the talk about how much makeup they were going to apply to her face, they’d opted for a more natural look. Her skin is nearly airbrush flawless with just the lightest touch of blush and champagne colored shadow swept across her eyelids. He smiles at her from the doorway.

“You look great.” She looks up at him and beams, lips shiny with an understated berry colored gloss, and he notices for the hundredth time how much good the braces had done her as a kid. Her teeth are flawless now.

“So do you bro bro.” She stands up and the skirt flares out at her knees in the poofy style she’s always been fond of. “And I have your tie, close your eyes.” He sighs and does so, hand out to take the object. Dipper’s surprised when he feels Mabel push his hand away before popping his collar. He hears the whisper of fabric as she wraps the cloth around his neck and begins to tie it. It takes her far longer than it usually does him and he’s considering asking her if she needs help but he holds his tongue.

“There.” He opens his eyes and moves over to the mirror. She’d picked a dark gold silk tie with an even darker geometric pattern of interlocking triangles and has tied it in a far more complex knot than he’s ever attempted.

“This is really cool Mabel, thanks.” She beams at him.

“I’m glad you like it. Now come on, I need some waffles before we sit in that auditorium for three hours.” She leaves the room and Dipper runs his finger down the smooth tie. He makes his decision before he has time to second guess himself. He pulls out a coin and snaps it in half effortlessly. He’s glad that all of the lights are off because this time he’s not showered with sparks as reality shakes and buckles as Bill forces it to open around him. The demon appears from the mirror this time and Dipper’s distantly grateful that it doesn’t shatter as his partner pops out of the glass and tumbles through the air.

“Hey there Pine Tree, what’s up? Thought you were coming home tonight?” Dipper shifts uncomfortably.

“Um well, look, this isn’t really an emergency or anything, but I was just kind of wondering if well.” He pauses and takes a deep breath. “There’s this kind of ceremony going on today, basically a celebration the we’ve completed a basic education and Mabel and I and all of our classmates are going to walk across this stage and get handed a piece of paper as a reward. It’s kind of a human right of passage and family and friends come and watch.” He wants to tug at his tie but is reluctant to ruin Mabel’s work so he picks up his jacket and puts it on to avoid eye contact with the demon. “I was just wondering, if you’re not busy or something, if you would stay and watch?”

“Boy you’re dumb.” Dipper flinches. “Of course I’m coming to watch your silly ritual.” His silly human heart swells. “I’ve just been busy finding you a present, I heard those were kind of important for these things, plus the ceremony doesn’t start for hours.” Bill makes an exasperated noise. “Jeez you humans are terrible at keeping track of things.”

“You’re really going to be there?”

“Course I am, Pine Tree. Now I still need to finish up a few things, so you go off and do your bonding thing with the rest of the meatbags, I’ll see you at the show!” Bill blinks out of existence and Dipper smiles idiotically at the wall for a moment before grabbing his cap and gown and heading out to find his friends and family.

* * *

 

“You will walk up the stairs when your name is called, shake the proctor’s hand with your right hand, take your diploma with your left, and smile at the audience so that the photographer can get your picture. Then proceed down the steps center stage and go back to your seat.” Dipper recites these instructions in his mind as he looks out at Mabel who is on the other side of the stage, waiting for his name to be called followed by her’s. It’s the first time he’s seen her since the ceremony began and they walked arm in arm down the center row. The school had divided the students into two sections, leading him to sit on the right side of the room and Mabel on the left. There are two lines of students on either side of the stage and Dipper knows in just a moment hes going to have to take center stage.

“Dipper Pines.” He sucks in a breath and walks up the three steps and makes his way over to the Dean of students. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” He shakes the man’s hand and curls his fingers around the proof that he’s completed his high school education. Dipper turns to smile at the photographer and his grin turns genuine when he spots his family in the background, parents taking pictures both looking fairly misty, and friends holding a large banner that says ‘You made it!’ ‘Pine Tree’ and ‘Shooting Star’ have been added in gold paint and Bill is sitting on the banner like a drawing, keeping his promise. Dipper walks to the bottom of the stairs like he’s supposed to, and watches as

“Mabel Pines,” walks out on stage. Her grin could cure cancer as she saunters across the stage. She shakes the Dean’s hand enthusiastically and beams at the camera before reaching into her robe and pulling out a,

“Glitter Cannon!” And blasting it into the air. There’s a loud pop followed by a few dozen gasps when the entire stage is dusted liberally with rainbow glitter. Dipper thinks he should have been expecting it, but he’s delighted by the surprise. He laughs as she joins him at the bottom of the steps and hooks her arm in his, raising her diploma triumphantly so he does the same and they strut back towards their seats.

The ceremony ends not too long later and he and Mabel are swamped with hugs and congratulations from their friends and family as they leave the school. Dipper knows his parents have every intention to take them out one last time before the twins leave for Gravity falls that evening but it doesn’t take much to convince them that spending the rest of the day having a barbeque is a much better idea. Dipper heads back into his and Mabel’s room to change out of his formal clothes and Bill is waiting for him.

“Congratulations on earning your underdeveloped education, Pine Tree.”

“Thanks, Bill.”

“Ready for your present?”

“Yes…?” He half expects another organ to be handed to him.

“1-A-B-C-3.”

“What?”

“You want to solve the mystery of Gravity Falls, well there’s a clue. Don’t tell anyone what it is or when you need it it won’t work. You’ll know what it means when you need to, Pine Tree.” Even though it’s obvious he’s going to get no further answers from the demon he can’t helped but be touched by the thought that went into the gift.

“1-A-B-C-3?”

“You’ve got it, Little Dipper.”

“Thanks Bill, that was really thoughtful”

“You’re welcome, Pine Tree. Now let’s go annoy Stanford.”

“No annoying Stan until we leave, I’ve kept my parents out of this for the past six years, I don’t want to change that now.”

“Aw you’re just no fun, kid. No fun at all.”

* * *

 

That May they move to Gravity Falls. That June he and Mabel are chased through the forest by some hulking beast on what he briefly considered the worst day of his life. That July starts with illegal fireworks followed up with Mabel getting her hands on an amulet of her very own and, Dipper thinks as he’s tossed through the air, is probably going to end with a funeral.

He lands against the forest floor with a grunt. Nothing cracks, that small mercies, but his vision goes black from the pain. He tries to push himself back up, reaching towards the knife holster strapped to his thigh, but the Shape Shifter kicks him into a tree before his fingers can even brush the hilt. This time he screams as one of his ribs crack. He gets to his feet more quickly, rolling out of the way to dodge the next blow, as he coughs. It hurts but he doesn’t feel a wetness or slurping that might indicate a punctured lung. Just a break then. Good. He’ll have to avoid another hit like that if he doesn’t want it to get any worse.

“I waited so long. You’ve gotten big since you locked me in that prison.” The creature hisses as it circles him. Dipper pulls out his dagger and adopts a defensive stance. He’d been attacked on his way to the Shack after an evening of watching the Fae work and he’s sure at this point someone has heard the commotion. He just needs to hold off the Shifter until help arrives. He glances at his backpack that the creature had torn off of him with its first attack. All of the signal flares he has with him are in the side pouch.

“I’d say I was sorry about that, but I distinctly remember you were trying to kill me, a lot like you are now!” He rolls out from under the monster’s swipe and is able to slash through its side. The Shape Shifter roars but Dipper keeps moving. He knows the monster had incredibly fast healing and makes a beeline for his pack. A claw shoots out and grips his ankle and the world is disappearing out from under him. He tries to brace himself as he’s thrown through the air but the hard landing never comes.

“Hands off my brother, you albino bastard!”

“Mabel!” Dipper twists wildly in mid-air, surrounded by her lavender magic. The amulet affixed to her headband glows with the same power as do her hands as she stares down the monster. She flicks her wrist and sends the creature flying. “Let’s see how you like it!” Dipper notices the thin white limb that sprouts from the monster’s back as its main body is slammed into the ground.

“Mabel, look out!” The limb shoots forward and rips the headband from her head, flinging it across the clearing. Her powers falter and Dipper falls to the earth, landing heavily on his backside and jarring his wounded ribs. “You think that’s going to stop me? Comminuet autem inimi--!” a pale limb grips Mabel by her throat, cutting her off mid incantation.

“That might not, but this will , little witch.” The creature hits her across the face, her head snapping sideways with a crack and Dipper hears more than sees the blood that hits the dark forest floor as his sister’s skin splits under the force of the blow. The Shape Shifter lifts her by her throat and tosses her across the clearing and she lands with a loud thud.

“Mabel!” She doesn’t move. Dipper wants to run to her, to see if she’s still breathing, oh God please let her still be alive, but he knows better. That’s what the Shifter’s expecting. He stares the creature down for a moment before darting towards his bag. It works for a split second that’s all he can think. his fingers clasp the pocket filled with coins and then there’s a limb around his ankle and he’s in the air again, briefly before being slammed back into the dirt. He screams as the impact dislodges his broken rib and sends it into his lung. His chest goes tight with the pain and he takes in gasping breaths as the creature drags him closer. Dipper’s vision is blurry but he sees the amber flares scattered across the forest floor and claws at the ground to grasp one. The Shifter rolls him over onto his back before he can grab one of the coins and it towers over him.

“I’m going to peel your skin from your bones, boy.”

“Fuck you.” He tries to snarl through the agony in his chest. He continues to scratch at the dirt, hoping that he’ll be able to find one of the flares while the creature is distracted. a sharp claw is pressed to his cheek threateningly at first and then it is cutting through his flesh light butter and Dipper’s screaming. There are twigs pressing up under his fingernails as he grasps at nothing while the Shape Shifter cuts through the flesh on his chest, pressing so deeply Dipper swears he hears the claw grinding against his sternum over his screaming and the pounding of blood in his ears.

His fingers brush over a small rock and he contemplates hitting the Shifter with it, but it’s more a pebble than anything else. He’d lose more blood just picking it up and swinging than it would be worth. his vision is going dark when his fingers brush against something else beside the pebble, as the monster is peeling away a strip, oh God that’s his skin, and bringing it to its mouth. Dipper grips the signal flare and tries to break it in his hand but his fingers are weak and clumsy, he can’t put enough pressure on the amber. His head rolls to the side lazily. He’s holding the one thing that could save his and Mabel’s lives and he can’t even use it. Pathetic. He looks at coin for a long moment. He needs to break it. Wary eyes drift to the other things in his eyeline. The pebble. Through the pain and the blood loss a surge of adrenaline sparks through his veins. Dipper tightens his grip on the disk and raises his arm as high off the ground as he can before bringing the amber down against the stone. It shatters to dust and Dipper allows a hysterical laugh to bubble, like the blood at the edges of his mouth, out of his mangled chest before his world goes dark.

* * *

 

“Are they going to be okay, Cipher? I still think I should have taken them to a hospital.”

“Calm down, Stanford. They're fine. I made sure. Shooting Star will be just as bright when she wakes up tomorrow and Pine Tree just as stubborn.” Come through muddied as Dipper starts to wake. That’s probably a good sign, he thinks almost deliriously, he hadn’t really expected to wake up.

“Fine. I’ll be back to check on them in the morning.” Stan huffs as he turns away. Dipper wants to tell Stan that he can stay, that he’s waking up, but Dipper can’t quite locate his mouth.

“Don’t try and move too quickly, kid,” he feels a tiny weight on his chest. “Your body took quite a beating and rapid healing. It’s not really good for you humans to regenerate that quickly.”

“Bill?”

“Who else, Pine Tree?” He opens his eyes and looks at the demon standing on his chest.“Now you’re going right back to sleep.”

“Is Mabel--?”

“Shooting Star is just fine, she’ll be up in the morning and you can check on her then. She’s sleeping now.” Bill gestures to the bed across the room and Dipper hardly has the strength to turn his head to look at her.

“The Shape Shifter?”

“Splattered across the forest.” The statement is more comforting than Dipper thinks it has any right to be and he settles back into the mattress, forcing himself onto his side so he can see his sister. Bill hovers above him for a moment.

“Stay with me?”

“You couldn’t make me leave if you wanted to.” Dipper opens his arms so that the demon can curl up against his chest and closes his eyes. Holding the demon is nothing like the agony of having his skin peeled away and he thinks for a moment that it almost feels good. He’s on the cusp of sleep when Bill starts speaking in low tones. “You’re too breakable, kid. All of you humans. One little hole, one little zap, one little irregularity and your entire system crashes. And then you go out and battle monsters. It takes a special brand of stupidity that humans have a monopoly on to do things like that in such weak fragile bodies.” Dipper knows the demon knows he’s not asleep but he pretends to slumber on regardless. This is the kind of honesty that Bill’s never willingly put into their relationship so he’ll give the demon any comfort he can while he speaks. “Sometimes I just want to chain you up, lock you in the Mindscape away from everyone, so that you’ll never get hurt again, or so that I can be the only one to hurt you.” Dipper does his best not to shiver at the statement as he holds the demon a little tighter. “But you would be so boring like that. Safe and boring. You just wouldn’t be you without all the near-death experiences, Pine Tree, and I don’t want you like that. You’re mine. I want you whole and interesting. I won’t have you any other way, Pine Tree.” Dipper can’t hold his tongue any longer.

“This is where human’s say ‘I love you’.” He murmurs.

“I’m not human.”

“I love you, Bill.” He’s been thinking those words for months but speaking them seems more profound. They hang heavy in the air and he’s not hurt or surprised when the demon doesn’t reply. He waits for a long time, until his mind is moving too sluggishly and he can’t stay awake any longer.

“If I could love, I would love you, Pine Tree.” Bill’s voice blurs into darkness as Dipper falls asleep.

* * *

 

They don’t talk about it the next morning and any of the sobriety of Bill’s mood the previous night has disappeared along with the twins injuries. But Dipper doesn’t forget the demon’s words or the crushing hope in his chest they they weren’t a dream. Mabel is thrilled to see that her amulet and brother had survived the ordeal when she wakes up that morning and Grunkle Stan insists that they stay in bed for the day before heading downstairs to make them breakfast. Taking a final request before heading out to attend to his own demonic business Bill snaps his fingers and the twin’s beds are pushed together so they can check that they are as injury free as promised without breaking Stan’s rule. They hug each other tightly and Dipper shudders to think of her still and crumpled on the forest floor. What would he do without her? His mouth sets into a thin line. They’ve been trying to get better, they’ve been trying to get stronger, they’ve been trying to get safer in how they handled their adventures but it hasn’t been enough. They’d both almost died last night. They can’t go on like that. Somethings gotta give. Dipper’s mind searches for a solution as Mabel chats happily with Pacifica, who’s come to check on her, as he rolls a signal flare across his knuckles. Somethings gotta give.

**Author's Note:**

> Comminuet autem inimicus meus: Shatter my enemies  
> Cingit protegit: Encircle and protect  
> Excresco: grow/expand/increase  
> Veni tenebras: Come darkness  
> Pausa: Pause  
> Initium: Start/begin  
> Less Latin in the next pieces. Hope you enjoyed.


End file.
